The pharmacokinetics of vinpocetine (Eusenium) were investigated in 20 elderly, healthy volunteers. Plasma levels of the drug were determined during one dose interval of either repeated intravenous infusion or oral administration. AUC, Cmax and tmax values were derived for oral application, AUC values in case of intravenous application. Oral administration of 20 mg vinpocetine resulted in 4.60 x 10(-8) mol l-1 h, 1.71 x 10(-8) mol l-1 and 2.33 h for AUC, Cmax and tmax, respectively. The appropriate values for apovincaminic acid were 1.92 x 10(-6) mol l-1 h, 6.39 x 10(-7) mol l-1 and 2.41 h. When 10 mg vinpocetine were infused for 1 h, AUC values for vinpocetine and apovincaminic acid were 3.42 x 10(-7) mol l-1 h and 1.69 x 10(-6) mol l-1 h. Absolute bioavailability of vinpocetine was 6.7%. These data were in good agreement with the literature on young and elderly subjects. Marked deviations of apovincaminic acid kinetics in elderly subjects as described earlier could not be demonstrated in this study.